Fancy Flowers Cake

by Jenn Mancini
(Huntington Beach, CA)

I made this cake to show what you can do with deeper, more vibrant colors of gum paste flowers because people are usually so wary of going deeper than pastels. I think the purple roses lend a fun and funky edge to the look of this cake.

I made a butter yellow cake with chocolate buttercream which is always a popular combination. It was put on a large plate rather than a cake board because I was serving it to friends in a more private (less formal) setting but I also like the juxtaposition of the round cake on the square plate.

The gum paste flowers were made well in advance using mostly Wilton methods and tools. The purple roses were mounted on some handmade and some prefabricated rose bases, depending on their size, the calla lilies mounted on toothpicks and the daisies dried in flower former cups so the petals would stand up instead of laying perfectly flat.

I also added sugar pearls in the center of the smallest blossoms, attached with gum paste glue. The rose leaves were made with a PME plunger and also dried on a curved surface for a more lifelike look.

When the cake was assembled, I leveled it, filled it and iced it before moving it to the plate. The star border trim was done in a lighter lavender color to go along with (but not compete with) the purple roses.

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